The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-01-22
PASTE JEWELRY.
Some OF the Most Clever limitations and
How They Are Manufacturod.I

Some OF the Most Clever limitations and
How They Are Manufacturod.l
1.-THE number of imitation diamonds
worn these days is enormous" said q
fashionable jeweler reporter
''What limitations are mostly worm"
"The double diamond, Il clever imi-
tation produced by splitting worth
less or defective stone and backing it
with tinfoil. Diamonds of this kind
have to be carefully mounted or else
detection will be easy. The business
of intensifying the sparkle of a pale,
cheap diamond is now reduced to a
science. Gems are frequently split in
two, a deeper tone of color introduced
and they are joined together again,
producing a stone that has beautiful
fire and that which sells for three or
four times its original value. The
'dOublet' business is extremely
! profitable, but of course no reputa-
bic dealer can afford to sell any
without injuring his trade and reputa-
ton. A lapidary, one Zocolino, in
vented the 'doublet' many years ago.
He used a bit of crystal as Il bottom for
a makeup, and painted it with trans
parent glue. He then joined together
two cheap thin stones, and produced IA
gem that appeared finer than the real.
1t was not long before his method was
detected. The quartz gems are popu-
lar and come next to the 'doublets' in
clever counterfeit. They are gems, of
course, of their kind, but not what they
are often sold for. Quartz can stand
the test of the file, which glass can not
do, hence its availability. There are
paz which are as hard as diamonds;
( and being colorless they are frequently
cut and polished and passed as dia-
monds of the first water. OF late col
orless gem material has gone up in
prices, owing to the demand from the
, bogus diamond manufacturers. Then
there are the paste diamonds so easily
taken by amateurs for genuine. The
composition of paste gems is miXtdre
of violin glass and borax. These man
ufactured stones are very hard to de-
tect, and sometimes find their way into
rich families who are unwitting-
1y imposed upon. The glittering
gems that can be seen on Broadway
after the matinees are over, half the
time are clever limitations, either doub-
lets, quartz or paste. But at the swell
society balls confess the gems worn
there by the wealthy are genuine. EX-
tremely wealthy people are not easily
imposed upon; they always have a
jeweler who examines carefully their
gems before they are purchased. The
very moderately well-to-do people are
often deceived, and young men who
want diamonds to sparkle before their
sWectheartS. Some of them, though,
go boldly and ask for the limitations
and disport them as genuine. Mock
pearls are frequently seen, too, but the
diamond is initiated more than any
precious stone. The ruby is sometimes
manufactured from recipe which COM
prises twenty parts of antimony and
glass, five hundred of strass, half each
of purple of Cassius and gold. Aven-
turine is also gem glass frequently
used in limitations. These limitations,
of course, have some effect upon the
sale Of genuine gems, but not to an eX-
tent that is ruinous. l think, though,
that all jewellers who sell limitations
should deal exclusively in such goods
and so advertise. The harm comes
from the attempt to palm of, counter
feits for real stones. ~ Y Mail and
! ELDreSS.